You and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

It is the mission of SRON to bring about breakthroughs in international space research. Therefore, the institute develops pioneering technology and advanced space instruments, and uses them to pursue Earth science, astrophysical and exoplanetary research. The instruments which SRON develops for satellites of ESA, NASA and JAXA require world leading electronic systems, which are extremely sensitive, highly reliable, low in power consumption, low in noise and high speed. These systems require state of the art software for control, calibration and test.

Your position and team

SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is hiring a

Software Engineer

You will be part of the electronics department of the Engineering Group. The EG realizes the mechanical, electronic and software designs and is responsible for the realization, integration and testing of the prototypes and instruments for space research. All of your colleagues are passionate for engineering, technology, space research and challenges which require innovative solutions.

You will contribute to future instruments for Earth based telescopes and satellite missions, such that scientists all over the world are able to do groundbreaking research into the universe and our own Earth. Your contribution consists of developing software to test and calibrate prototypes and instruments, likely for climate change research. Besides, you will be involved with updates to the SRON software test suite, which is developed to control and test instruments for space research.

You will be part of a team of six software engineers and three firmware engineers. Together with them, but also with mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and scientists, you will be part of several project teams.

Your project

You will participate in the ESA TANGO mission, for which SRON tests and calibrates possible detector modules. TANGO is a twin satellite mission to monitor and quantify emissions of the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide at the level of individual facilities and power plants. Launch is expected in 2025. Alongside supporting this mission, you will participate in improving the multi-user features of our generic instrument control software suite. Security by design plays a significant role, in close cooperation with our ICT department.

You have a bachelor or masters degree in software or electrical engineering and at least 5 years in a position with focus on software development for hardware systems. Your knowledge of Linux software concepts and Python is excellent. Knowledge of and experience with defining application programming interfaces (APIs), remote procedure calls (RPC), security, computer protocols and/or digital signal processing is preferred.

In short:

• Software Engineer which is highly motivated for science and space
• In-depth knowledge of Linux and Python, and software design patterns
• Experienced with measurement equipment and debuggers
• Great team player

Employment of this fulltime position is by NWO-I (the Institutes organization of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research). This is a position for 2 years. The salary will be in accordance with the salary scales of NWO-I, scale 9. Depending on knowledge and experience a scale 10 is possible.

NWO-I has good secondary employment conditions such as

• 42 days of vacation leave a year on full-time basis
• An excellent pension scheme
• Options for (additional) personal development
• Excellent facilities for parental leave

SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

Why SRON

You will be working on groundbreaking instruments in a closely collaborating team of engineers and scientists. The technology, project and processes are challenging. SRON offers all opportunities for personal development.

About SRON

We have a strong international reputation as 'excellent in space research'. The quality and societal relevance of our science is considered ‘world-leading’. Our mission is to bring about breakthroughs in international space science. SRON is part of NWO, the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research. SRON is located in Leiden and Groningen.